State report details conditions at Stroud day care where infant found dead

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2012 at 5:13 PMDec 12, 2012 at 5:30 PM

The results of a state investigation into the Stroud Township day care where a three-month-old boy died last month say the child was placed face-down on a queen size mattress for a nap before he was found dead later that evening.

CHRISTINA TATU

The results of a state investigation into the Stroud Township day care where a three-month-old boy died last month say the child was placed face-down on a queen size mattress for a nap before he was found dead later that evening.

“There were pillows, blankets, clothing and another child sleeping in a car seat also on the bed at the same time. Our representatives also confirmed that there was a cat sleeping on the bed during the victim child's nap,” the report says.

Sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 29, the operator of the facility went into the bedroom and found Jasaan Feliciano of East Stroudsburg was not breathing.

Stroud Area Regional Police officers responded and performed CPR on Jasaan until paramedics arrived, but he was pronounced dead a short time later at Pocono Medical Center.

There was milk on the bed and around Jasaan's neck. He was sleeping on his stomach, the report said.

It is up to local medical officials to determine exactly how Jasaan died.

The State Department of Public Welfare, which released the report to the public on Wednesday morning, does not make that kind of determination, said Anne Bale, a spokeswoman for the DPW.

“Our job is only to look at (the day care owner's) requirements under law via regulation, and she violated those regulations by putting a child on a bed and surrounding a child with blankets,” Bale said.

A forensic autopsy was conducted on the child, and the forensic pathologist did not find any evidence that the child was smothered, said Monroe County Coroner Bob Allen on Wednesday.

Allen is now awaiting the results of toxicology tests, which could reveal whether the child died as the result of a virus.

Those tests take up to six weeks to complete and won't be available until the end of the month.

“We aren't looking at anything of a suspicious nature at this time,” he said.

Stroud Area Regional Police are continuing to investigate, said SARP Capt. Brian Kimmins.

The day care facility, which served between four and six children, is registered to Deborah Terry Thompson.

She did not immediately return a phone call for comment on Wednesday morning.

For more on this story, check back at PoconoRecord.com and read Thursday's Pocono Record.